Now that all three films are out, let’s just say what we all knew from the start: The Hobbit did not need to be stretched out over three movies. Not only is there so much filler and weaker subplots about ancillary characters, it all distracts from Bilbo’s charming tale of adventure. And just as was expected, fans are stepping in to fix the problems of the “trilogy.” The first new cut, The Hobbit: The Tolkien Edit, is from “tolkieneditor” and comes in at 4 hours (or 4.5 hours with the credits). His goal was to try to make the movie resemble J.R.R. Tolkien’s original book, so things like the investigation of Dol Guldor, the Tauriel-Legolas-Kili love triangle, a lot of filler moments or filler action scenes, and much of the Pale Orc (Azog) subplot and Laketown scenes are all gone.

Of course, this was only made possible by The Battle of the Five Armies leaking early due to awards season, so it’s DVD quality at best; furthermore, the soundtrack can sound a bit choppy because they’re just working with what’s in the movie. Still, it’s a good first start, and I’m sure more fans will try their hand at fan edits once the movie has been officially released. (Can someone get it down to 3.5 hours?) You can find the details to download The Tolkien Edit on tolkieneditor’s page, but as a reminder, please support the original releases. Or check out two scenes below for the tighter pacing this cut promises — though admittedly, I could still have done without videogame-y sequence of the really fat dwarf spinning out of the water in a barrel and taking out all those orcs.